She
by RedCyanide
Summary: What if Tatsuki had been taken along with Orihime to Hueco Mundo? And what if a pink haired scientist had taken an interest in her?...Tatsuki/Szayel Aporro Granz
1. Prologue

Her body trembled awfully as her breath came in heavy gasps, an overwhelming pressure clenching her body like thousands of webbing threatening to crush her bones. She tasted the earth as she fell to the ground, unable to stand up, unable to move any part of her body. She was being choked and crushed by the heavy air pressing into her.

What was going on?

"Orihime…" she managed to murmur, seeing the red haired girl stand in front of her, still on her feet but frozen. She probably hadn't heard her, since she gave no sign of reply. She stood there unmoving, ash eyes fixed on an approaching figure.

And as the figure came closer, the pressure became heavier and heavier, ripping a tormented moan out of the blue haired girl's throat. Her vision was flickering, the form of the person approaching the two girls trembling. He's speaking, but she heard nothing of what he was speaking. She tried calling out to Orihime, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. The mere presence of that pale figure was smothering her.

Suddenly, something happened. Her eyes went wide: three screens appeared out of thin air. In two of them were person she didn't know, attacked by a monstrous being. But there, in the third window, in the middle, there was Kurosaki-kun, his orange hair unmistakable. He was being crushed by a tentacle determined to reduce his body to a pile of bleeding meat.

Orihime tensed in front of her, and the pressure seemed to get loose for a moment. She heard a voice.

"Come with me, woman." A cold, monotone voice belonging to the figure dressed in white said to Orihime. The girl was shivering, she noticed, and a wave of anger flooded through her. Orihime. That bastard was threatening Orihime.

She forced herself into a standing position and felt cold, emerald eyes fix upon her.

"Tatsuki-chan!" the voice of Orihime hit her ears and she let out a small groan in reply. "You're hurting Tatsuki-chan! Stop!" she shouted towards the pale figure; she was defending her, she thought.

"I'll tell you once again, woman." The same ice-cold voice sent shivers down her spine. He was approaching them; she choked and collapsed again. She heard a yelp coming from Orihime and her hand jerked shortly, out of an old instinct to protect her best friend. The last thing she could feel was a hand touching her shoulder as her world turned black.

* * *

**Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 1

**I wanna say thank you to those who reviewed so far; I decided to continue this story. Also, I fixed the mistakes I found in the prologue and I want to apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes that may occur in the chapter since English is not my main language.**

Her heavy eyelids trembled softly before she remembered what had happened and they jerked open, her warm brown eyes sliding over the room she was in. It was a cell; she could tell that from the heavy, locked door and the steel bars which blocked the windows. The whole chamber was painted in white, an immaculate white which made her eyes sting as while before she got accustomed with its brightness. She blinked once or twice, lying unceremoniously on the floor. Her body felt so numb and hurt, a dull ache, like she had been run over by a car and now she was lying in a hospital bed trapped between bandages. The floor was ice cold beneath her bare legs; she was still clad in her school uniform.

Her head was spinning wild as she forced herself on her feet and stood up shaking. She vaguely wondered where she was. Quietness pressed upon her temples in an irksome manner; the place sounded deserted, no sound penetrating the bothersome silence. She managed to walk to the narrow window and take a look around. Her eyes were met with a white, bleak desert and a tar sky with no stars, but a huge crescent moon with no brilliancy. A shiver ran down her body.

"Where am I?" she wondered, a bud of fear starting to bloom inside her chest. There was no sign of Orihime, and this is what worried her the most. What did that black haired man want with Orihime? Her hand curled into a tight fist at the thought of that person doing something bad to Orihime. She felt so vulnerable locked in a cell with no escape.

A sound coming from far away made her startle and tense and clench her fists at her sides to defend herself from whoever was coming. There were sounds of bouncing steps, echoing into the empty corridors and managing to break through the thick walls and door, sounding like a tramp of an army to girl's ears. She tensed, her muscles straining. She heard the door locks clicking as they were being opened and the hinges creaking deafening. Her knees bent slightly, ready to attack.

The appearance of the creature standing in the door frame took her by surprise, making her lose any attempt of attack. It was relatively short, with a huge body like a balloon and a small head totally unfit for its obese torso. As for hair, it had a short, black ponytail.

Tatsuki stared at the creature, repulsed and somewhat scared. She jumped when it spoke to her in a bubbly, high-pitched voice.

"Szayel-sama wants you in his lab." She froze, her arms falling to her sides. What was that thing saying? Somebody wanted her in his lab? Seeing that she is not moving, Verona skipped towards her in an attempt to make her move, but as soon as his hand touched the girl's skin, she jumped aside and slid a bit on the glassily floor.

"Don't touch me, you freaky creature." She yelled, her voice reverberating in the empty chamber. She threw a punch in the direction of the little thing, but it quickly avoided it by jumping backwards acrobatically, despite its fat body. She gritted her teeth when the creature spoke again.

"Szayel-sama doesn't like waiting." She stomped her foot into the ground in an attempt to make it stop talking.

"I don't give a damn about what this Szayel-sama wants or likes." She yelled again, but as soon as her words left her mouth, her body had been pierced and crushed by a pressure similar to that she had felt back then. Was he back? She tried turning her head to see, but her neck was stiff and refused to move. A voice said something and the pressure suddenly disappeared, leaving her to drop to the ground in exhaustion.

"My, my, aren't we feisty?" gasping on the ground and holding onto her stomach, she registered the voice of the person who released the pressure. It was slick, sweet and at the same time dangerous. And so sensual it gave her chills running down her spine. She heard soft and slow steps approach her and the little creature squeaked with a trembling voice.

"Szayel-sama!" he most likely ignored it, since he said nothing in reply and the little creature didn't move from the corner he had retreated in when he stepped in. Tatsuki gathered a bit strength and turned around slightly to look at the person that thing called Szayel-sama.

It was a young man with shockingly amber eyes and cotton candy pink hair reaching to his shoulder. He was clad in a tight white outfit and wore glasses. She found herself staring at the stranger. There was something so attractive about those honeyed eyes and curved lips, and funny thing, even though his outfit showed no skin, it was so tight that it looked like the man was naked, with the fabric hugging and bringing out the curves of his abs and chest.

He leaned down and his face wandered closely above hers, lips curving deeper into an unpleasant smirk. His gloved hand reached out to touch the skin of her cheek. She had been completely frozen, but as soon as he felt his icy fingers touch her, she startled and crawled away from him. He let out a laugh, an corny and cold laugh which made any fiber of hair on her body stand up. She prepared herself, gathering all of her strength into a devastating punch colliding with the nose of the stranger.

In the next three seconds, all she was aware of was a sharp pain in her wrist, like it had suddenly been snapped. It felt like she had punched a wall, not a human face. She felt something warm trickle down her knuckles and she brought it to her mouth, a copper taste filling it. A chuckle made her blood boil, but she didn't dare striking again. Instead, she looked up at the stranger's face and she was surprised to see that no damage was done. It was like nothing had happened, and nothing messed up those strangely handsome features of his.

His hand wrapped around her aching wrist like an ice bracelet, somewhat relieving the pain which throbbed through her arm. Her eyes went wide when the left side of his face glued to her right side and a whisper had been purred into her ear.

"You're coming with me."

And something hard collided with the back of her head.


	3. Chapter 2

He felt her crouch slightly when the side of his gloved palm hit the back of her head and she went limp, her hand still curled into a tight fist. His fingers stretched out to touch the girl's long, slim left arm, sinking slowly to feel her muscles. Quite hard muscles for a girl, he thought. His index finger traced along the inside of her arm; a little cut there and he could pull out her tendons and every cord of her muscles to study them.

Defeated by curiosity, Verona bounced shyly closer to his master to catch a glimpse of a widening, manic grin. A grin which meant nothing good. Szayel's slender arms wrapped around the girl's slim waist slowly, sensually, pressing the lean body into his hard one. His hand found the hem of her shirt and raised it softly to reveal the flat abdomen. He traced another line on it with the nail of his thumb, leaving a shallow, white line behind. Another cut there, he thought, and all of her fluids would spill down her belly and pour down her long legs. His other hand found the inside of her thigh and sank into the muscles, a content smirk blossoming on his face.

Looks like he found something interesting to study. In a blink of the eye, he sonidoed away, leaving Verona behind, screeching for his master.

* * *

Consciousness crept back into her, but she didn't open her eyes. A sharp pain was drilling into the back of her head, like something hard had collided with her skull, leaving the portion throbbing. A steady beeping was tapping into her tympanum, nagging, ceaseless. Occasionally, soft tingles of glass hitting glass echoed through the room and covered the sinister, steady beeping. A hiss erupted and a smell of sulfur filled her nostrils; a peaky smell of chemicals. It all reminded her of a hospital.

Her eyelids parted softly and immediately the steam attacked them, forcing her lids close again as her eyes began to sting and filled with tears. A sudden giggle made her open them again, slightly so the poisonous steam wouldn't get into them again. Through her parted eyelids she saw him. Wearing again that unpleasant grin on his face, holding a cigarette in his left hand and a needleless syringe in his right hand, he advanced on her with graceful moves. Tatsuki wondered how a man could hold so much grace, swinging his hips almost femininely.

He came next to her, smiling down at her. That was the moment when she realized that what she was lying on was a table; and her hands and feet were chained to it. Suddenly, panic rushed through her as her eyes opened wider to survey the room she; they; were in. It looked like a lab. The only light which spread through the whole room was coming from a computer, a large one situated next to a long, metallic table covered with strange shaped recipients containing bright colored substances. One lime green, one baby blue; happy colors; but it strangely reminded of her of the exotic frogs that she learnt about in Biology class: the only purpose of their bright colors is to show how poisonous they are.

Boxes with instruments were lying on smaller tables all around her. She caught glimpses of glimmering blades, curved or straight, and needles attached to syringes ready to be filled with liquids and plunged into flesh. She shuddered at the thought. The atmosphere inside the room was morbid, just like somebody had recently died writhing in agony inside of those four walls.

Indeed, that was the scariest laboratory Tatsuki has ever seen. A small puff of smoke made her eyes snap again in the direction of the pink haired figure. Cigarette stuck between his index and middle fingers, he brought it slowly to his parted plump lips and sucked in, then blew it with a soft hiss.

"So, our Sleeping Beauty had finally woken up." She shivered at the sound of his voice. Sickly sweet, yet so deceiving. "And here I thought I'll have to beat you awake." He scooted closer to the dark-haired girl, his honeyed eyes watching her reaction. His gaze fell almost disappointed when the girl didn't even flinch. Tatsuki wasn't afraid of being hit. If she would have been afraid, she wouldn't have practised karate then. This fearless and determined nature gave her the title of the second strongest teen in Japan. And she would have been the strongest if she hadn't broken her arm. Damn.

Szayel smirked down at her, then brought his cigarette to his mouth again. So she was playing the stubborn. He pushed himself off the table. It happened many times to him; his test subjects being some stuck-up asses and thinking they could actually defeat him and escape. But then, Szayel couldn't help but savour the desperate look in their eyes when they realize that they can't escape that slaughterhouse and that they are going to die right there on that table with their blood pooling around them.

As he walked away from the table, he heard struggling. Tatsuki pulled wildly at the chains holding her wrists bound to the table, the cold metal biting at her skin. She gasped softly, then turned her head towards her captor.

"Who are you? Why am I here?"

Szayel didn't answer immediately. His hand motioned for a square box containing instruments and fumbled through them, searching for a certain object. His back was turned on Tatsuki and was blocking her vision, but she could hear the tingles of steel against steel and a shiver ran down her spine. She started to rotate her wrist and slip her hand out of the cold trap, but the chain seemed to fasten around her flesh, not letting her any chance to free herself. She supressed a groan of frustration when the metallic sound ceased.

Szayel's grin grew wider, reflected into the narrow, short blade of the scalpel. Tatsuki froze at the sight of the medical instrument in the man's hands.

"Octava Espada," he finally answered as he approached the table. "Szayel Aporro Granz." That must have been his full name, just like that disgusting creature had said. Though she knew nothing of what Octava Espada meant. "I'm a scientist." He said with a trace of pride in his voice. "And you, my dear, are a little bit of research material."

The words rang into Tatsuki's ears and her brown eyes widened. Research material. What was she, some kind of a guineea pig? He was going to make tests on her. She shuddered. That was insane, she thought. Suddenly, she remembered about something and she raised her head as much as the bounds allowed her, looking desperately through the lab.

"Where is Orihime?" she asked him, beginning to feel angry. If something happened to her friend, she was going to beat that bastard to death. The grin never left Szayel's face.

"You mean your red-haired friend?" he asked, though he knew very well. "Aw, I bet she's having a lot of fun right now. Ulquiorra is taking great care of her." The unpleasant tone of his voice made her squirm in anger. By Ulquiorra, she supposed that he meant the black-haired statuesque man. She let her head fall on the table again, noticing for the first time a huge circular lamp hanging right above her midsection. She hoped she was alright. She prayed she was alright. If something would happen to her, she would never forgive herself.

Szayel noticed her nervousness and anger. So she was more concerned about what would happen to her friend than what would happen to herself. They must be really good friends then. His hand clutching the scalpel stretched towards her chest and she startled softly, throwing him a dirty look.

"You should be more concerned about what happens to yourself." He said to her, toying with the strap of her bra through the white material of her shirt.

"Keep your hands off me." She growled through her teeth. God, if her hands would have been free now, that pink haired freak would have went flying into the computer working in the background. The tip of the scalpel slipped underneath the fabric and tore it with a loud sound, revealing the upper part of her right breast. His face lowered closer to her.

"Does this make you feel nervous?" he toyed with her before pulling the cigarette again to his mouth, sucking a mouthful of smoke. He brought his face closer to hers. She stared into those pools of poisoned honey, and felt and sudden pressure into her sternum which made her gasp. Szayel pressed the handle of the scalpel harder into her chest. His face got closer and she closed her eyes, expecting to feel his lips against hers. Instead, something steamy shot through her parted lips and she choked, coughing. Her arms jerked at the restrains by instinct, trying to reach and clutch her neck. He pulled back, still clutching the cigarette after he blew the smoke in her mouth.

"You bastard!" she said, her voice hoarse and cracking. She coughed again once or twice and glared at him when he chuckled at her.

"I'll pretend you haven't said that." He said, his voice once again playful. "It's for your own good." His face lowered again, his lips touching the upper part of her exposed breast smoothly. His tongue slipped between his lips to probe the soft, salty skin. Tatsuki shivered, her hands tightening into fists. She jerked herself, with no success.

"Leave me alone, you freak." Szayel's head drew back, his tongue lewdly licking his broad lips. He shook his head.

"My, my," he purred. "Still haven't learned your lesson." The stub of cigarette was still in his hand, still lit. He glued the red end into Tatsuki's skin. A howl of pain erupted into the room as the hot end of the cigarette burnt her. Szayel pressed it harder into her flesh, savoring the twisted expression of pain painted on her face. He lifted it and threw it away, his gloved finger touching softly the black, burnt spot on her breast. She gasped, jerking harder than ever at the chains. She wanted to break free, to tear that bastard limb from limb. But the chain didn't get loose at all. She finally gave up, grinning up at him.

"You coward!" she growled and saw his eyebrow lift.

"Coward, you say?" his hand motioned for a button underneath the table and pressed it, then moved backwards. Tatsuki's eyes widened slightly when the chain loosened and fell from around her wrist. Slowly, her left hand motioned for her right wrist and rubbed it softly, then they curled into fists when her eyes met the pink-haired man, who was waiting for her to make a move.


	4. Chapter 3

Her fists clenched at her sides as she took a fighting stance, her eyes roaming over the form of her opponent. Slender and tall, just a bit muscular, not bulky with muscle. Didn't seem particularly strong, but Tatsuki could bet he was fast. His everlasting smirk of superiority was irritating her, like he was overconfident, sure that she would never leave this place. The mere idea was smothering her. Her muscles were strained, ready to attack as soon as he made a little move, but he stood there like a statue, with an amused glint in his tangerine eyes.

"I gave you the chance to do as you please," he stated, pushing his glasses up on his nose with his middle finger in a lewd gesture, "and you just sit there unmoving." He burst out into a little laugh in a silky tone which made the hair on Tatsuki's arms stand straight up. "Charming." His foot moved into a step and she tensed once again. Everything happened in a matter of seconds. Her body practically shot forward and she jammed her back into him and grabbed the front of his shirt over her shoulder in an attempt to throw him onto the floor. But as soon as her body hit his, Tatsuki felt like she slammed herself into a solid brick wall. Despite his slim appearance, he was quite heavy and her arms gave in in the middle of the throw, resulting into him crashing on top of her, bringing the two bodies to the ground. Air had been knocked out of her lungs when the whole brick wall collapsed on her, crushing her underneath. When the weight had been removed, she clumsily scrambled back on her feet and threw a spiteful punch to the smirking face in front of her. She was met with the same hard wall. The skin of her knuckled cracked and blood trickled down her fingers.

Szayel just shook his head, pink locks flowing gently and caressing the skin of his cheeks and the milky white frames of his glasses. He took her wounded hand and kissed it gently, politely, like a gentleman would do with a lady. Then he brought his head closer to her ear, licking voluptously the smear of blood on his lips. "Looks like you did your best." He whispered with his hand placed on the back of her neck. A frustrated groan left Tatsuki's lips as she brought her knee up with all of her force, followed by a gasp of pain when it was met with the same impenetrable barrier. Pain shattered her kneecap, an ugly bruise forming under her very eyes.

"You can't defeat me. I am the perfect being."

For the first time in her life, Tatsuki felt the true taste of fear and desperation. Since she was little no bully, no bad man had touched her with getting beat up. She was strong and fearless, able to take care of herself and protect the others. But now, facing this kind of unhuman power she couldn't defeat, couldn't even touch, she felt scared, defenseless, no longer able to protect herself and the others; her thoughts flew to Orihime again. She was feeling useless.

She gave in as two hands wrapped softly around her wrists like two precious bracelets.

* * *

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime's scream drilled into Ulquiorra's ears and the girl turned to throw the Cuatro Espada a pleading look which didn't move a single muscle on the Arrancar's emotionless mask. After Aizen had seen her, Ulquiorra has been asigned to escort her to her "room" and Orihime was desperate. She saw no sign of Tatsuki since she arrived in the palace of Las Noches and none of the Espada or Aizen mentioned a thing about her. A striking fear took over her soul, trapping her like a rat in an iron cage. It was her entire fault if something happened to Tatsuki; she kept repeating to herself. She looked at the back of the Espada walking in front of her.

"Ummm," she began with a faint voice, afraid not to anger him, even though, judging by the way he reacted to things, it seemed like he was losing his temper very hard. "Do you know where Tatsuki-chan is?"

The Espada didn't give any sign that he night have heard her and Orhime already gave up waiting for an answer when he spoke calmly.

"Aizen-sama put her in a cell. Szayel Aporro Granz will take her over soon." An instinct would tell her not to trust the enemy, but there was something in his voice which told her he was speaking the truth.

"Is she…going to be fine?" she asked shyly.

"Che! Fine?" the strange voice made Orihime startle softly. A deep, masculine voice, very different from Ulquiorra's polite, but quite monotone voice resounded from the darkness. The voice itself betrayed the personality of the possessor: rude, brash, violent. The figure stepped from the shadows and she saw a blue-haired Arrancar, who was also present when Aizen asked to see her.

"Fine?" he repeated, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "With that creep Szayel? I don't think so, _lady._" He said with mock respect. Behind Orihime, Ulquiorra had stopped walking and turned to face Grimmjow.

"She'd be really lucky if tomorrow will find her in one piece." His maniac grin grew wider, as well as Orihime's eyes. What was he trying to say? Was he mocking her or was he telling the truth? The fear tightened its trap, clenching her almost painfully.

"Grimmjow," the voice of Ulquiorra behind her scared her, sending a cold shock through her whole body. "I don't think Aizen-sama will appreciate if you harass his guest."

Grimmjow looked at him like he had just suddenly burst out laughing and started giving them candy. But the grinning mask returned and his impressive figure retreated in the shadows.

"Let's go, woman."

Grimmjow's words did nothing but water the seeds of fear buried deep inside her and now they bloomed, smothering her. _"Tatsuki-chan!"_


End file.
